A Passage to India

E. M. Forster

Part III, Chapters XXXVI–XXXVII

Key Facts

1.

In
every remark [Aziz] found a meaning, but not always the true meaning,
and his life though vivid was largely a dream.

This quotation occurs in Chapter VII
during Aziz and Fielding’s first meeting at Fielding’s house, just
before the tea party. Fielding has just made a brief comment in
which he meant that the post-impressionist school of painting, to
which Aziz has just made joking reference, is obscure and silly.
Aziz, however, takes Fielding’s comment to mean that it is silly
for Aziz to have Western cultural knowledge. Aziz’s embarrassment
and discontent does not last long in this instance, but the incident
foreshadows the misunderstandings that eventually break down the
men’s friendship.

Aziz’s capacity for imagination and intuition leads him
to genuine and deep friendships with Mrs. Moore and Fielding. However, Forster
also shows that Aziz’s intuition, which lacks grounding in fact,
can lead him astray. In the aftermath of his trial, Aziz’s false hunch
that Fielding is courting Adela Quested leads to the breakdown of
the men’s relationship. In the above quotation, an early case of
this false intuition, we see that Forster lays the blame for the breakdown
on Aziz. Forster does not fault the difficulties of cross-cultural
interaction, but rather Aziz’s overactive imagination.

This flaw in Aziz’s character, in a sense, also stands
for a flaw of India itself. Forster presents Aziz’s attitudes toward
others as unfounded in reality. Cut off from a logical cause, Aziz’s
responses damage relationships rather than build them. This cut-off
quality is later mirrored in the very landscape of India: the land
around the Marabar Caves, described in Chapter XIV, appears “cut
off at its root” and “infected with illusion.” Forster presents
India and Aziz as somewhat threatening to the logical and reasonable
apprehension and reaction to reality that the author sees as epitomized
by Western order.

This type of narrative comment that diagnoses Aziz’s character
is characteristic of Forster’s writing. The author is concerned
with presenting actions and dialogue, but he also seeks to draw
comparisons and distinctions, to categorize and characterize. Indeed,
Forster tells and comments as much as he shows. Still, not all of
Forster’s narrative diagnoses can be taken as absolute truth that
stands throughout the novel. Though Forster depicts Aziz’s imaginativeness
as a handicap here, in other scenes we see that Forster values it.

2.

Fielding
did not even want to [correct Aziz]; he had dulled his craving for
verbal truth and cared chiefly for truth of mood. As for Miss Quested,
she accepted everything Aziz said as true verbally. In her ignorance,
she regarded him as “India,” and never surmised that his outlook
was limited and his method inaccurate, and that no one is India.

This passage, occurring at Fielding’s
tea party later in Chapter VII, highlights a major distinction between
the English and the Indians. Forster shows that Indians value the
emotion and purpose behind a statement more than the literal words
being stated. Indeed, we see that Aziz often tells lies—or, at least,
lies by English standards—that are nonetheless truthful to Aziz
himself because they reflect his desire to be hospitable, or because
they serve to keep a conversation progressing smoothly. Similarly,
other Indians, such as the Nawab Bahadur, give elaborate speeches
that seem to have no coherent point, but that serve to rescue the
other party from disgrace or impoliteness. Whereas the Indians seem
to favor indirect speech, the English value statements primarily
on the basis of literal truth. The English are incapable of intuiting
the larger purpose or underlying tone behind a speech. Fielding’s
ability, as seen in this quotation, to respect statements for their
mood as well as their truth, shows that he has learned cross-cultural
lessons and can interact with Indians on their own standards, rather
than his own.

This passage also highlights a problem with Adela’s approach
to India. Adela is still caught up with English literalism, even
though she is well meaning and her intelligent individualism sets
her apart from the rest of the English. Without a capacity for sympathy
or affectionate understanding, Adela cannot realize that she is
evaluating Indians on her own terms, rather than their terms. Adela’s
relationship with Aziz is, in this sense, without understanding
or compassion. Rather, it is somewhat materialistic—Adela wants
to know the “real India,” and she expects Aziz to render it for
her. This goal in itself is Adela’s second mistake: whereas she
seeks a single India, the real India exists in hundreds of guises,
and no single Indian can offer an entire sense of it.

3.

[Mrs.
Moore] felt increasingly (vision or nightmare?) that, though people
are important, the relations between them are not, and that in particular
too much fuss has been made over marriage.

This quotation, appearing in Chapter
XIV during the train ride to the Marabar Caves, foreshadows Mrs.
Moore’s upcoming crisis with the cave echo. Ever since setting foot
in India—or, more specifically, since hearing Godbole’s religious
song in Chapter VII—Mrs. Moore has felt a spiritual presence larger
than her own Christian God. The largeness of this presence frightens
Mrs. Moore and convinces her that human interactions are petty and
meaningless. Her crisis at Marabar reinforces this feeling and leads
her to paralyzing apathy. Mrs. Moore’s vision, which shows that
something larger than man encompasses the entire world and renders
it equal, is a sort of negative version of Godbole’s Hindu vision.
The Hindu vision of the oneness of all living things finds comfort
and joy in surrendering individual existence to the collective.
Though Mrs. Moore takes this vision of impersonality to mean that
human relationships are meaningless, the vision can also be liberating.
Indeed, it is through a similar vision of impersonality that Adela
is able to realize that Aziz is innocent and that she must proclaim
him so, regardless of the cost to her own person and reputation.

This passage also evinces Forster’s subtle critique of
the institution of marriage. Mrs. Moore and Fielding, both potential
mouthpieces for Forster himself, express distaste for marriage,
specifically because it does not lead to a fruitful relationship
that enlightens one about oneself or others. Few marriages exist
in A Passage to India; indeed, we witness the breakdown
of two—Ronny and Adela’s before it even starts, and the McBrydes’
through adultery. As such, Forster implies that the English sentimentalize
the domestic structure of husband, wife, and children. They view
this structure as a sacred symbol of all that is good about the
British Empire, though the author contends that, in reality, domestic
situations can lead to trouble and ignorance.

4.

“Your
emotions never seem in proportion to their objects, Aziz.”
“Is
emotion a sack of potatoes, so much the pound, to be measured out?
Am I a machine?”

This exchange occurs in Chapter XXVII,
as Aziz and Fielding’s relationship begins to break down in the
face of Fielding’s new respect and advocacy for Adela. Though Aziz
and Fielding have several misunderstandings during this time, their
main conflict centers on the issue of reparation money from Adela.
Aziz seeks damages from Adela in the aftermath of the trial, but
Fielding believes that Adela should be given some credit for her
bravery, rather than ruined financially. Fielding points out that
Aziz loves Mrs. Moore, who has done nothing for Aziz, but begrudges
Adela even after she has risked her own reputation and marriage
to eventually pronounce Aziz innocent. Aziz and Fielding’s disagreement
over this issue demonstrates the larger disparity between their
worldviews. Fielding, who values logic and reason, sees Aziz as
fickle and irrational because he bases his feelings on intuitions
and connections that Fielding cannot see or understand. Aziz, conversely,
sees Fielding as succumbing to the materialism and literalism of
the rest of the English. The two men often have lively conversations,
but this quotation shows one new trend in their discussions: they
directly disagree with each other and say so. Notably, Fielding
is often the one who initially expresses dissatisfaction with Aziz’s
behavior or opinions. Fielding becomes more judgmental and less
patient in the aftermath of the trial.

This quotation also highlights the larger issue of British
rule over India. Britain’s control of India began initially as a
capitalist venture with the British East India Company. As such,
Britain appears to see itself as taking the muddle and inefficiency
of India and turning it into an orderly, profitable, capitalist
system. Aziz objects to this kind of materialism, believing it values
profit and efficiency over intangible matters of spirit and love.

5.

Were
there worlds beyond which they could never touch, or did all that
is possible enter their consciousness? They could not tell. . .
. Perhaps life is a mystery, not a muddle. . . . Perhaps the hundred
Indias which fuss and squabble so tiresomely are one, and the universe
they mirror is one. They had not the apparatus for judging.

In this quotation from Chapter XXIX,
which details Fielding’s and Adela’s reactions to Adela’s strange
experience at Marabar, Forster shows the inadequacy of English rationalism
to evaluate mystical India. Adela is unable to articulate her frightening
experience in the caves, even after her vision at the trial shows
her Aziz’s innocence. She and Fielding both approach the problem
logically, attempting to outline a number of possible explanations:
hallucination, the absence of the guide, and so on. Though Adela
and Fielding are committed to rationally explaining the occurrence,
each of their explanations falls short of Adela’s experience. Here,
we begin to see that Adela’s experience in the cave stands as a
sort of synecdoche—a metaphor that takes a part for the whole—for
the entire experience of the foreignness of India. Like Marabar,
India presents a confused set of stimulants, not all of which can
be incorporated into a dominant explanation or interpretation. The
only possible way to understand and classify the chaos of Marabar
and India is to ascribe these mysteries to a force larger than humanity—a
mystical force. Once mysticism is acknowledged, the “muddle” of
Marabar becomes a “mystery,” and the strangeness of India comes
to appear as a coherent whole.

This passage also shows Fielding and Aziz coming closer
to each other through mutual respect and similar experience. Though
Fielding does not like Adela for much of the novel, disagreeing
with her theoretical and unemotional approach to Indians and India,
the two do share a level of rationalism and non-spiritualism. Both
are -atheists in a way and cannot truly fathom mystical presence
as Mrs. Moore can. Fielding begins to respect Adela for her frank
objectivity and her willingness to admit that she is unable to explain
what happened in the caves. Through conversations like this one,
Adela and Fielding grow closer by acknowledging the strangeness
of the India around them. Aziz senses that this is the tenor of
Adela and Fielding’s friendship, and he begins to resent Fielding
for it.